South African opposition party to boycott president's speech to Parliament ahead of elections
ABC News
South Africa’s third-largest political party says it will boycott President Cyril Ramaphosa’s annual speech to Parliament because of suspensions from the legislature handed out to its fiery leader and five other party officials for disrupting last year...
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South Africa's third-largest political party said it will boycott President Cyril Ramaphosa's annual speech to Parliament on Thursday because its fiery leader and five other top party officials have had their lawmaker status suspended for disrupting last year's event when they rushed the stage where Ramaphosa was standing.
The Economic Freedom Fighters said none of its more than 40 lawmakers would attend Thursday's speech after leader Julius Malema, deputy leader Floyd Shivambu and four other senior officials were barred from the legislature until the end of the month.
The announcement raises the stakes ahead of national elections later this year, when Ramaphosa's ruling African National Congress is facing the possibility of losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since coming to power at the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994.
Several polls have predicted the ANC, the party once led by Nelson Mandela, would get less than 50% of the vote. If those predictions materialize, it would be a major change for Africa's most developed economy.
The leftist EFF party was formed in 2013 and won just over 10% of the national vote in the last general election in 2019, but it was the only one of the three largest parties to increase its share of the vote.
